Dental implant screwdriver harness system

ABSTRACT

A dental implant screwdriver harness system enables a dentist to restrain and stabilize an implant screwdriver, while simultaneously turning the driver head using only one hand. A tether attached to the dentist&#39;s hand/finger connects to a stepped socket assembly, comprising multiple driver sockets, which seat driver heads of several standard diameters. A flexible slotted driver shaft strap wraps over the driver shaft and holds the driver head down against a central socket base.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to the general field of lanyards andtethers used in connection with hand tools, and more particularly to thefield of lanyard/tether systems used to prevent the accidental ingestionor aspiration of small dental tools.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the introduction of implant dentistry and the associated use ofsmall-machined parts and devices, the incidence of a practitioneraccidentally dropping a device into a patient's oral cavity hasincreased. If the patient swallows or aspirates the device, emergencysurgical intervention is often necessary, with potentiallylife-threatening consequences. Screwdrivers used to loosen or tightenabutments to implant fixtures pose a particular hazard, because thedentist must use one hand to both stabilize and turn the driver in therestricted and slippery environment of a patient's mouth. Existingdental isolation measures which block the back of the patient's throat,such as rubber dams and gauze throat screens, have severaldisadvantages, including patient discomfort and gagging response.

Various lanyard/tether systems have been proposed to mitigate thesehazards. Most of these systems involve directly attaching a ligature,such as a string or dental floss, to the screwdrivers head/handle,either by tying it on or inserting it in a bore. But tying is inherentlyinsecure, especially in the slippery environment of an oral cavity, andbores in the driver head require a specially manufactured tool.Moreover, these systems do not offer a good solution to the problem ofhow to restrain the driver head without interfering with its rotation.As the dentist turns the driver head, the tether wraps around thescrewdriver, requiring frequent disentanglement, during which theligature is apt to shred or detach from the tool.

In response to the entanglement issues with direct attachment ligaturesystems, some systems interpose a swivel mechanism between the ligatureand the driver head. But this measure only further adds to the overalllength and bulk of the lanyard, which increases the difficulty ofretrieving the tool once it has been dropped into the oral cavity. Along tether/lanyard allows the screwdriver to fall into the throatopening, so that the tool must then be pulled out, thereby injuring thesoft tissues of the throat and esophagus.

Therefore, the existing systems are flawed insofar as they merely enablethe dentist to retrieve the implant screwdriver once he/she has droppedit—with the retrieval involving potentially traumatic effects. On theother hand, the present invention provides a device which prevents thedentist from losing control of the screwdriver and allowing it to dropinto the patient's oral cavity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The design of the present invention enables the dentist to restrain andstabilize an implant screwdriver, while simultaneously turning thedriver head using only one hand. Instead of tethering to the driver headdirectly or through a swivel, the tether connects to a stepped socketassembly, comprising multiple driver sockets which seat driver heads ofseveral standard diameters. Attached to one side of the socket assemblyis a flexible, slotted driver shaft strap, which wraps over the shaft ofthe screwdriver and holds the driver head down against its seat in thedriver socket.

The combined restraints of the socket and the driver strap secure thescrewdriver in place while allowing the driver head to rotate freely, sothat the dentist can easily turn it as he/she tightens or loosens animplant abutment. Because the stepped driver sockets comprise opposingcircular arcs that are open on both sides, the sockets do not completelyencompass the driver head, so that there is ample space for thedentist's fingers to engage the driver head in order to turn it.

Since the driver head is restrained on both ends and cannot becomeentangled with the tether as it rotates, the tether of the presentinvention can be shorter than tethers/lanyards that connect directly orthrough swivels to the driver head. Consequently, even when thedentist's fingers slip off the driver head, the screwdriver cannot fallinto the patient's throat, thus obviating the traumatic retrievalprocess required by the prior art devices.

The foregoing summarizes the general design features of the presentinvention. In the following sections, specific embodiments of thepresent invention will be described in some detail. These specificembodiments are intended to demonstrate the feasibility of implementingthe present invention in accordance with the general design featuresdiscussed above. Therefore, the detailed descriptions of theseembodiments are offered for illustrative and exemplary purposes only,and they are not intended to limit the scope either of the foregoingsummary description or of the claims which follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a plan view of the obverse side of the first embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 1B is a side profile view of the first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 1C is a plan view of the reverse side of the first embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 1D is a detail plan view of the driver socket assembly and thestrap locking mechanism of the first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a detail perspective view of the driver socket assembly andthe strap locking mechanism of the second embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3A is a detail perspective view of the driver socket assembly andthe strap locking mechanism, with partial views of the driver shaftstrap and the tether member, of the first embodiment of the presentinvention, with a screwdriver seated in the innermost driver socket;

FIG. 3B is a detail perspective view of the driver socket assembly, thestrap locking mechanism and the driver shaft strap, with a partial viewof the tether member, of the first embodiment of the present invention,with a screwdriver seated in the innermost driver socket, and with thedriver shaft strap wrapped over the driver shaft and fixed in the shaftharnessing position by the strap locking mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a detail perspective view of the strap locking mechanism ofthe first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a detail perspective view of the split finger ringer of thefirst embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the present inventiontethered to a user's finger by the finger ring.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1A-1D, the first embodiment of the present invention10 comprises a driver socket assembly 11, a driver shaft strap 12, astrap locking mechanism 13, and a tether member 14.

The driver socket assembly 11 comprises a central socket base 15, whichin this embodiment is substantially disk-shaped, and two opposing setsof multiple stepped socket flanges 16 on opposite longitudinal sides ofthe central socket base 15. The socket flanges 16 are shaped as circulararcs which are concentric with the central socket base 15 and whichsubtend an acute flange angle 17.

Preferably, the flange angle 17 is greater than 60° and less than 90°.In this embodiment, the flange angle 17 is 80°, so that the driversocket assembly has openings of 100° on either lateral side, throughwhich the dentist can grasp and turn the head of a screwdriver seated inthe driver socket assembly 11.

The socket flanges 16 form a series of horizontal, circular arcuateflange steps 18, alternating with vertical, circular arcuate flangerisers 19, as best seen in FIG. 2. Each of the flange risers 19cooperates with an opposing flange riser 19 so as to define a driversocket 20, having a socket diameter 21 corresponding to the diameter 24of the base 31 of the driver head 23 of a screwdriver 22 to be seated inthe driver socket 20, as best seen in FIGS. 3A and 3B. Optimally, theflange risers 19 have a height of 0.5 to 1 mm, and the driver socketassembly 11 has a width of 12 to 20 mm.

The driver shaft strap 12 is sufficiently flexible to bend over the topof the driver head 23, as shown in FIG. 3B. The driver shaft strap 12 ishingeably attached to one side of the driver socket assembly 11, and theattachment can comprise a living hinge 25. The driver shaft strap 12 hasa longitudinal axis 35 which is aligned with the arc midpoints 34 of thesocket flanges 16, and it has multiple oblong strap apertures 26. Whenthe driver shaft strap 12 is wrapped over a screwdriver 22 seated in oneof the driver sockets 20, one of the strap apertures 26 slides over andencompasses the driver shaft 27, as depicted in FIG. 3B.

In this shaft harnessing position 28, as shown in FIG. 3B, the drivershaft strap 12 firmly engages the top 36 of the driver head 23 andforces the base 31 of the driver head 23 against the central socket base15 of the driver socket assembly 11. The seated screwdriver 22 isthereby constrained to axial rotational movements associated with thedentist's manual turning of the driver head 23.

The reverse side of the driver shaft strap 12 contains a series ofridges or projections 29, which conjugately engage the teeth or detents30 of a strap locking mechanism 13 on the side of the driver socketassembly 11 opposite the driver shaft strap 12. The strap lockingmechanism 13 releasably fixes the driver shaft strap 12 in the shaftharnessing position 28. As depicted in FIG. 4, the strap lockingmechanism 13 optimally has a release tab 32 which, when manually pushed,releases the teeth/detents of the strap locking mechanism 13 fromengagement with the ridges/projections of the driver shaft strap 12,thereby releasing the screwdriver 22 from the harness 10.

Extending from the distal side of the strap locking mechanism 13, is theflexible tether member 14, which terminates at its distal end in a splitring 33, best seen in FIG. 5, that attaches to a finger of the dentist'shand, as shown in FIG. 6.

Preferably, the tether member 14 has a length of 70 to 100 mm, and thedriver shaft strap 12 has a length of 50 to 60 mm.

The dental screwdriver harness device 10 can be made of a plasticmaterial, and it can optionally be made sterilizable and reusable.Preferably the device 10 would have limited reuse and would be replacedafter a number of users.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has beendisclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art willappreciate that many additions, modifications and substitutions arepossible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the presentinvention as defined by the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device for tethering screwdrivers to a hand ofa dental practitioner, the device comprising: a driver socket assembly,having two opposite sides, comprising a first side and a second side,and comprising a central socket base, wherein two opposing sets ofmultiple stepped socket flanges are integrally attached on the oppositesides of the central socket base, and wherein each of the socket flangesforms a circular arc which is concentric with the central socket baseand which subtends an acute flange angle, and wherein each of the socketflanges comprises a horizontal, circular arcuate, flange step and avertical, circular arcuate, flange riser, and wherein each of the flangerisers cooperates with an opposing flange riser so as to define a driversocket having a socket diameter corresponding to a diameter of a base ofa driver head of a seated screwdriver in the driver socket; a flexibledriver shaft strap which is hingeably attached to the first side of thedriver socket assembly, such that a longitudinal axis of the drivershaft strap aligns with a midpoint of each of the socket flanges,wherein the driver shaft strap has multiple oblong strap apertures, andwherein the driver shaft strap is hinged and configured to enable thedriver shaft strap to assume a shaft harnessing position, in which thedriver shaft strap is wrapped over the driver socket assembly, such thatat least one of the strap apertures slides over and securely encompassesa driver shaft of the seated screwdriver, and such that the driver shaftstrap firmly engages a top of the driver head of the seated screwdriverand forces the base of the driver head against the central socket baseof the driver socket assembly, thereby constraining the seatedscrewdriver to an axial rotational movement, and wherein the drivershaft strap contains a series of ridges or projections which conjugatelyengage one or more teeth or detents of a strap locking mechanism, whichis rigidly attached to the second side of the driver socket assembly, soas to releasably fix the driver shaft strap in the shaft harnessingposition; and a flexible tether member having a proximal end whichextends from the strap locking mechanism and having a distal end whichis adapted to removably attach to the hand of the dental practitioner.2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the distal end of the tethermember terminates in a ring or a split ring which is adapted toremovably attach to a finger of the hand of the dental practitioner. 3.The device according to claim 2, wherein the flange angle is greaterthan 60° and less than 90°.
 4. The device according to claim 3, whereinthe tether member has a length of 70 to 100 mm, and the driver shaftstrap has a length of 50 to 60 mm.
 5. The device according to claim 4,wherein the strap locking mechanism contains a release tab which, whenmanually pushed, releases the teeth or detents of the strap lockingmechanism from engagement with the ridges or projections of the drivershaft strap.
 6. The device according to claim 5, wherein each of theflange risers has a height of 0.5 to 1 mm.
 7. The device according toclaim 6, wherein the width of the driver socket assembly, from the firstside to the second side, is 12 to 20 mm.
 8. The device according toclaim 7, wherein the driver shaft strap is attached to the first side ofthe drive socket assembly by a living hinge.
 9. The device according toclaim 8, wherein the device is sterilizable and reusable.